Sushi is definitely one of those types of food that I constantly have cravings for, so needless to say I have been to my fair share of restaurants that serves the wonderful Japanese delicacy. The refreshing taste of artistically sliced fresh fish, gently pressed on top of a piece of vinegared rice is something many tries to achieve, but few manages to succeed. After going a month without sushi, I finally could not resist myself; I was ready for some fish!
Shiku Sushi, the restaurant my husband and I selected to fulfill our cravings, gave me a bad vibe the moment I walked in. I don’t think I’ve ever been to an authentic Japanese restaurant where the cocktail bar was bigger than the sushi bar. Nevertheless, we decided to stay and give it a try since it did take us 40 mins to get there.
After settling ourselves down at the sushi bar, we ordered two appetizers and a bunch of sushi. The Agedashi Tofu arrived first, but before we could dig our chopsticks into the appetizer all the other items we ordered started piling up. Perhaps we were supposed to order the appetizers first before submitting our sushi orders, but this was overwhelming given the space we had. As I recall, bulk ordering at other Japanese restaurants usually involved the chef carefully orchestrating the order for which the food came out. Oh well, I guess Shiku doesn’t do that, moving on.
The Agedashi Tofu was alright. The tofu used could be silkier but the tentsuyu sauce was prepared quite well and added just enough taste to the dish.
The fried oysters, listed as one of their specials for the night, was unfortunately a disappointment. The oyster underneath the batter was fairly small and did not have much “oyster” taste to it. In hindsight, I think most of the oyster taste was masked by the strength of sweet and sour sauce. I suppose that could work just fine for some people, but I can’t imagine any special of the night would center around sweet and sour sauce. Thumbs down.
The first plate of sushi contained uni, salmon, scallop and hamachi. The fish used were pretty fresh, especially the uni. I also liked how each piece was cut in a long strip leaving a bit of a tail at the end, although it would have been better if it was a little thicker. However, unbelievably, the rice turned out to be the deal breaker. I always knew that the vinegared rice underneath the fish played an important role, but I never quite had a gauge on HOW important it was until tonight’s experience. Not only was it missing that small hint of sourness from the rice vinegar, but the rice itself was hard and dry. Should have just went with Sashmi.
The “rice problem” manifested itself pretty much everywhere, the taste of the Amaebi and Hiramasa (yellowtail king fish) also suffered because of it. The deep fried head of the shrimp was pretty yummy though!
The Soft Shell Crab Roll was very pretty, decorated tastefully with swirls of sauce. However, that’s where the pleasantries ended. The taste of the roll was quite forgettable. I think it would have been much better if we had just ordered the soft shell crab by itself with some ponzu sauce. The ingredients of the roll did not enhance the taste one bit, which was definitely disappointing.
Shiku Sushi
5310 Ballard Ave NW
Seattle, WA 98107
(206) 588-2151
www.shikusushi.com
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